REMAINS RELOCATION SERVICES

A BEFITTING ACT OF FILIAL PIETY

Remains relocation is an act of relocating the remains of ancestors to a new burial land or urn compartment with better environment or excellent fengshui. It is also known as "Picking of Gold" (拾金) or "bone cleaning". The remains relocation is not a simple procedure. It has to be conducted by an experience feng shui master or a relocation master. The procedure varies according to the deceased's religion, cultural practice base on his/her Chinese origin. According to the Chinese, improper relocation could result in bad luck befalling to descendants.

WHY RELOCATE REMAINS:

• Bad feng shui (please seek advise from qualified fengshui master).
• Environmental condition due to occasion flood, the presence of pests, etc.
• Relocate for convenience of paying homage.
• Damage to the tomb/burial plot/

 PROCEDURE FOR RELOCATION OF REMAINS:

• Select an auspicious date by feng shui master.
• Presence of family members, feng shui master and relocation master at the tomb.
• Worship ritual and exhumation of the remains.
• Collecting and cleaning of the remains to be placed into small coffin or urn.
• Ritual of tombstone breaking.
• Relocate the remains to the new burial plot and to erect new tombstone or placement of remains to an urn columbarium.

HISTORY IN BRIEF

The Chinese exhuming of bone has a history dating back to the Neolithic times of ancient China. It is know as "Shijin" (拾金), a direct translation would mean "Collect Gold". It is also an act of a filial piety.

WHY RELOCATION
Commonly, exhumation are usually done after 10 years of burial. They are many reason to why the remain we're exhumed. Some decedent's would collect the bones and send back for re burial at the hometown where the deceased is born (to China or vice verse). Other reasons are for Feng shui reason as Chinese believe that the grave of an ancestors would affect the luck of its descendants, some are exhumed due to land development and many more.

THE DECISION
It all begins with a discussion among family member to obtain everyone consent for exhuming their ancestors. The elders in the family would have the last say on whether it should be done or not. Then, an auspicious date for exhuming will be selected base on the date of birth of the deceased and family members by a Feng shui master. Usually the time selected to begin exhumation are at early dawn of the morning to avoid the sun to shine into the grave by noon. Family members are usually advise NOT to wear any bright colored clothing for the event.

EXHUMATION DAY
Family members begin prayer to the Da Bo Gong (大㑑公) at the cemetery temple. After prayer, family members would adjourn the ancestor burial plot where the Taoist priest and grave digger (relocation  master) would be waiting to start their work. Offering of foods, tea, incense and josspaper will be burn at this stage to the deceased.

START WORK RITUAL
The Taoist priest will conduct a prayers to inform the earth diety(后土) and the deceased (先人) that the family member wishes to exhume and relocate the remains to another location. Upon completing the prayer, the taoist priest will instruct the grave digger to do a ground breaking ceremony (digging to the four corners and the center of the grave) as symbol of relocation start work. Family member were asked to look away when the digger unearth the soil. It will take to an hour or more for grave digger to remove the earth covering the coffin (depending the depth of the burial). An old style paper wax umbrella would be held or place above when the relocation master  is about to open the coffin. The condition of the coffin will be base on the quality of the coffin and the condition of the burial plot.

EXHUMING THE BONES
The relocation master would slowly and carefully dig with a smaller scoop to recover the bones buried along the soil. The skull would be the first section a relocation master looked for. When found and subsequently all the bones will be collected and carried out of the grave delicately. There should not be word of disrespect or vulgarity during the whole process 

THE UMBRELLA
The used of an traditional Chinese paper wax umbrella is to cover and protect the spirit of the dead  dispersed. While some even have canopy tent over the whole grave for this reason or due to raining.

ARRANGING THE BONES Once all the bones is collected, the process of cleaning the bones would be done on the spot or it would be bag and transport to the digger work place.

The relocation master then properly arrange onto the smaller coffin or large/small urn depending how it will be required for the new location (to be reburied or to be place in an urn compartment).

- Small coffin

The relocation master will place from the head to toe, so the deceased would be like sleeping in the small coffin. Charcoal and joss paper will be use to hold the bones and skull to it position before sealing the coffin to be transport to the new burial plot.

- Large urn
The relocation master will first place the toes/feet bones into urn follow by the rest and lastly the head skull will be place on the most top in the urn. The remain will be arrange in a sitting position so the deceased would be sitting up right for the future burial.

- Columbarium urn

If the family members wishes to to have the remain cremated, the ashes would be place into the urn and it would usually to places in an urn columbarium of the family choice.

UNEXPECTED PROBLEM 
Some of the unexpected problems might arises, like where the corpses are still damp (located in a water pit) and the are those that the corpses did not decay (preserved corpses). In these circumstances, the remain and the coffin have to be raise for cremation. Other might place the deceased into a new coffin and buried at the new plot.

GRAVE TREASURE
Sometimes valuable jewelry (gold/jade) buried along with the deceased would also to returned to the descendants. Some will keep the treasure found but usually are place back along with the remains to be reburied.

TRANSPORTATION TO THE NEW LOCATION/SITE

There would be a ritual by the relocation master to pull some coins into the coffin/urn and remaining of the coins would be divided to all family members as a symbol of good luck, health and prosperity. A joss stick from the grave would be taken along during the transportation to the new location/burial site as it's believed the spirit of the deceased will only be able to following the joss stick incense to the new location/burial site.

NEW SITE

Upon reaching the new site, prayer at the new site temple to the Da Bo Gong (大㑑公) before going to new burial site or urn columbarium to place the coffin/urn.

RITUAL AT THE NEW SITE

The Taoist priest would perform the last ritual when the urn is place into the columbarium or when it's reburied. A whole new grave and Feng shui would be build and a new tombstone would be erected. The erection of the tombstone might not be the same day as the Taoist priest might selected another auspicious date and time due to auspicious time factor.

FINAL RITUAL- HOUSE WARMING RITUAL (旺山)

After completing all the work at the burial plot/columbarium, a Taoist priest will select an auspicious date and time to perform the "House Warming Ritual" (旺山) for the deceased and the family members will be blessed with good luck, health and prosperity.

*Note: The custom and ritual practice varies from place to place, but these are some of the common procedure should be done as respect the deceased and family.

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